Loggia maggiore della pescheria di Rialto

This guide to the Loggia Maggiore della Pescheria di Rialto in Venice starts with the carved stone faces above the columns, believed to be private portraits of the loggia's own architect and painter hidden among the decoration. It traces the fish market's move to this canal-side spot after bankers complained of the smell, and the 1900 competition that gave it its current neo-Gothic arches, carved capital by capital with crabs, seahorses and a bronze Saint Peter. Look along the row of columns and you can pick out the ship loaded with baskets among the carvings.